Politically the land is free, but economically she has a long way to go. The elimination of ignorance and of grind­ing poverty accumulated over centuries of inertia and exploita­tion is not an easy task.

India today has help of the total illite­rate population of the world. About fifty million of her people, a tenth of the total population, live on an yearly income of no more than Rs. 120.

The problems are grave and immense. But this is only one side of the picture. During recent years, great strides have been taken towards industria­lization, towards modernization of agriculture, and to provide better health and life to the people.

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The most powerful tool in the process of moderniza­tion is education based on science and technology.

The one great lesson of the present age of science is that, with determi­nation and the willingness to put in hard work, prosperity is within the reach of any nation which has a stable and pro­gressive government.

There is no doubt that in the years to come India’s trade and commerce will grow: there will be more food for all, more education, better health; and a reasonable standard of living will be available.

But India’s contribution can and should be far more than these material gains. She should learn to harness science but she must also learn nor to be dominated by science.

In this respect India has a unique advantage with her great tradition of duty without self- involvement , unacquisitive temperament ,tolerance, and innate love of peace and reverence for all living things.

Too often are these precious assets forgotten and we tend to relapse into moods of pessimism, fears and forebodings, discord and destructive criticism.

A new pride and a deeper faith expressed in living for the noble ideals of peace and freedom, truth and compassion, are now needed.

In our efforts to go in a big way for science-based industrialization, we have the advantage of drawing upon a great stock of knowledge accumulated ‘ by the western world over the last two hundred years.

We also have another lesson to learn, The industrialization of the West was in some ways brought about at no small cost to the human spirit.

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The two world wars resulting in human killing on an unprecedented scale are a grim reminder of that suffering of the spirit.

If we learn the lesson right, we can harness science to support rather than weaken our basic commitment to cultural and spiritual values.

It should be our goal and obligation to re-interpret, and raise to a new level of understanding the insight gained by the ancient seers as regards the fundamental problems of life- which in some ways is unique and ‘represents the quintessence of deepest insight into the happenings of the world’.

The opening stanza of the Kena Upanishad is as challenging today to the scientific and seeking mind as it was thousands of years ago:

‘By whom missioned falls the mind-shot to its mark? By whom yoked does the first life-breath move forward on its paths?

By whom impelled is this word that men speak? What god set eye and ear to their workings’.

Man’s knowledge and mastery of outer space and of his own self are out of balance. It is this imbalance which mankind must seek to redress.

Man now faces himself. He faces the choice of rolling down a nuclear abyss to ruin and annihilation or of raising himself to new heights of glory and fulfillment yet unimagined. India has made many glorious contributions to world culture, and perhaps the grandest of them all is the concept and ideal of non-violence and compas­sion, sought, expounded and lived by Buddha and Mahavira, Nanak and Kabir, and in our own times by Vivekananda, Ramana Maharishi and Gandhi, and which millions have striven to follow after them.

The greatest contribution of Europe doubtlessly is the scientific revolution. If science and ahimsa join together in a creative synthesis of belief and action, mankind will attain to a new level of purposefulness, prosperity and spiritual insight.

Can India do something in adding a new dimension to the scientific achievement of the West?

This poses a great challenge and also offers a unique opportunity to the men and women of India, and especially to the young people who arc the makers of the future. In this context we cannot do better than to quote Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru:

Can we combine the progress of science and technology with this progress of the mind and spirit also? We cannot be untrue to science because that represents the basic fact of life today.

Still less can we be untrue to those essential principles for which India has stood in the past throughout the ages.

Let us then pursue our path to industrial progress with all GUI’ strength and vigour and, at the same time, remember that material richer without toleration and compassion and wisdom may well turn to dust and ashes.